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World Mental health day

10th October 2012 ... Charlotte

So today I took a trip back in time and visited my old secondary school for an event being held to mark world mental health day. I wasn't sure how I would cope going back and it was certainly a surreal experience, making me feel very old! The conference was for local teachers and allied professionals to learn about CAMHS and the various difficulties young people can face. Myself and another VIK presented at the start of the conference, we not only shared our own experience but also voiced the opinions of the young people who we had talked to at the inpatient unit a few weeks previously. We shared with them the work we are doing with AcSEED and potentially have several new schools interested in participating.

As the event was being held at my old school I had to be mindful about what I said though it did leave me reflecting on my own school experience. In no way blame my school for my mental health difficulties but at the same time I don't think the culture of the school was constructive to my mental health. Although the school didn't pick up that I was suffering mental illness I was very good at hiding it and therefore don't feel I can hold the school responsible for overlooking this. While I wasn't aware of any support in my school for students suffering with mental illness perhaps if they had been aware of my difficulties they would have been able to offer something.

I believe the day was a brilliant success and events like this should happen more often. Throughout the day what I did become aware of was that there was still a lot of education to be done in informing teachers and school staff around the topic of mental health. While I believe the staff are going away from today with a better insight and understanding I am aware that there are many more staff out there that have not had this training. In the ideal situation I believe emotional wellbeing should be embedded into the ethos of the school and that involves getting the backing of the senior management team. It was my impression that members of senior management teams were poorly represented at this event and it's vital that we start encouraging their participation in this important area.

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